Pence PAC spreads cash to vulnerable Republicans — but not Curbelo

When Vice President Mike Pence’s leadership PAC contributed on Wednesday to 30 threatened House Republicans across the country, it notably left out the incumbent who arguably needs it most: Rep. Carlos Curbelo.

And the omission isn’t necessarily bad news for Curbelo, who occupies the most anti-Trump seat of any Republican running for reelection in Congress.

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“It’s probably a badge of honor that Carlos is not being favored by what’s going to be the old Republican Party very quickly,” said Juan Carlos Planas, a Republican election-law lawyer and former state legislator from Miami. “Carlos Curbelo represents the future of this party. And that future is not Trump. I spend time around young 20-something Republicans and independents, and they’re like Curbelo.”

Curbelo is one of 11 Republicans running for reelection in seats identified as toss-ups by the Cook Political Report. Of them, just four did not receive financial aid from Pence’s Great America Committee on Wednesday: Curbelo, California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman and Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock, who received a contribution from the leadership PAC last year.

Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who is less precariously positioned than Cubelo, received $5,400 in Pence PAC money.

Curbelo declined to comment for this story.

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During the presidential campaign, the congressman accused Trump of flirting with “fascism” and never backed away from his criticisms of the president’s rhetoric, especially over immigration and climate change.

Curbelo was also the first Republican member of Congress to suggest Trump could be impeached.

The anti-Trump sentiment played well in his Miami-based 26th Congressional District, where Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by 16 percentage points. Curbelo ran far ahead of the president in 2016, winning by 12 in a rematch with the former congressman he beat the election before.

Trump lost only one other Republican-held seat in the nation by a bigger margin, the neighboring 27th Congressional District, which Clinton won by 20 percentage points. The GOP incumbent in that seat, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, decided to retire this year.

As a Republican who has criticized Trump and who advocates for climate change and immigration reform, Curbelo is popular in the swing seat, according to a Republican poll of the district that was shared with POLITICO.

Taken in December, when anti-Republican sentiment was particularly strong, the poll showed that 45 percent of district voters had a favorable impression of Curbelo and 28 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Trump’s numbers were upside down, with 56 percent expressing an unfavorable opinion of the president and 40 percent holding a favorable view.

One top Miami Republican joked that Pence probably coordinated the contribution snub with Curbelo “because the more it looks like Trump doesn’t like Carlos, the better it is for us in that district.”

Curbelo’s main Democratic challenger this year, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, is relatively unknown in the district and lost a state Senate race in 2016. At the end of the fundraising quarter that closed Dec. 31, she had less than $316,000 banked, compared with Curbelo, who had nearly $1.7 million in cash on hand.

Democrats who have made Curbelo a top target say that when it comes to actual votes on items like Obamacare repeal and tax cuts, Curbelo sides with the president far more often than his rhetoric indicates.

“Carlos Curbelo is only anti-Trump when it’s politically convenient,” said Juan Peñalosa, Florida Democratic Party executive director. “While he may make empty promises in South Florida, his voting record in Washington is decidedly pro-Trump.”